Telautographic system.



e. S/TIFFANY.

TELAUTOGRAPHIC SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2. 1916.

FICE,

GEORGE s. TIFFANY, or SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY.

TELAUTOGRAPHIC SYSTEM.

Application filed May 2,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. TIFFANY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Summit, county of Union, and State of New Jersey, have invented-certain new and useful Improvements in Telautograph-ie Systems, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in telautographic apparatus of the kind in which the currents traversing the two main line circuits from the transmitting instrument to the receiving instrument are varied in strength according to the direction and extent of movement of the transmitting tracer and, as thus varied, effect, through suitable devices at the receiving instrument, movements of the receiving pen corresponding in direction and extent to those of'the transmitting tracer, so that the receiving pen will reproduce the writing done by the transmitting. tracer. kind as heretofore devised the movement of the parts controlling the writing movements of the receiving pen have been effected directly by the main line currents. According to the improvements constituting the present invention, however, the main line currents are relieved of this work, such movements of the receiving pen being effected by a local source of energy for the receiver, with suitable circuit and other connections between it and the receiving pen, the only work performed by the main line currents being that of controlling these circuit connections. One result of thus relieving the main line currents of the work of operating the pen-moving parts is that the length of line over which telautographic apparatus may be satisfactorily operated is very materially increased. Another result is that messages may be transmitted much more economically over lines of a given length, in that with the present apparatus the current used is very materially decreased in quantity.

The accompanying drawing represents diagrammatically a telautographic apparatus comprising transmitting and receiving stations equipped with the improvements constituting the present invention in its preferred form.

Referring to said drawing, 1 represents the transmitting tracer, 2 pen arms pivotally connected th ewi at the r converging In apparatus of this Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 17,1918.

1916. Serial No. 94,866.

ends and at their opposite ends with bellcrank levers 3, 4, pivotally mounted in the transmitting instrument, as 'is well understood. The levers, 3, 4, are provided with contact rollers 5, 6, "respectively, bearing against rheostats 7, 8, respectively, through which currents are shunted from a battery 9, or other source of electrical energy, into the two main line circuits leading to the receivirig instrument. The currents so shunted into the main line circuits, as is well understood, vary in strength according to the direction and extent Of-the writing or lateral movements of the transmitting tracer 1 over the writing platen 10, and therefore the positions, from time to time, of the contact rollers 5, 6, lengthwise of the rheostats 7, 8.

When the master switch 11 of the apparatus is in the closed position in which it is shown in the drawing, rheostats 7, 8, are

connected with the positive pole of battery 9 by the following circuits The circuit for th rheostat 7 consists of wire 12, contact brush 13, contact plate 14 of master switch 11, wires 15, 16 to rheostat 7, wire 17 therefrom, contact plate 18 of master switch 11, contact brush 19, and wire 20 to the negative pole of battery 9, this pole of the battery being connected with ground by wire 20, brush 19, contact plate 18 and wires 17, 23 and 23 The circuit for rheostat 8 consists of wire 12, brush 13, contact plate 14 of master switch 11, wires 15, 21 to rheostat 8, wire 22 therefrom, wires 23, 17 contact 18 of master switch, 11, brush 19 and wire 20 to the negative pole of battery It will of course be understood that as each 'of the contact rollers 5, 6, is moved lengthwise of its rheostat 7 or 8, by the lateral Writing movements of the 'transn'litting tracer 1, more or less resistance will be introduced into the circuit from battery 9, and the current shunted from the rheostat into the left or right main line, as the case may be, to the receiving instrument, will therefore be correspondingly varied in strength.

The left main line circuit from the transmitter to receiver consists of wire 24, from lever 3, contact plate 25 of master switch 11, contact brush 26, wire 27, a relay coil or current responsive member 28 and thence through a pair of magnets 29, 30 (the function of which will'be hereinafter referred to) and wires 31, 32, to ground at 33. The right main line circuit consists of wire 35 from lever 4, contact plate 36 of master switch 11,

When current is on the main lines from battery 9 these coils 28, 28*, are movable.

thereby downwardly, (the coils being suitably wound for such movement), against the tension of springs 50, 50, respectively,

which resists their downward movement and tend to move them upwardly. I

The receiving instrument is provided with a local battery or other suitable source of electrical energy 51, which, through circuit connections later on described,"control the movements of a pair of reciprocating coils or current responsive members 52, 52, which in turn directly effect the lateral or writing movements of the receiving pen. These coils 52, 52, are pivotally mounted in brackets 53.,

54, respectively, so as to reciprocate in a magnetic field provided by the magnets 29,

' 30. The pole pieces 55, 56-, of these magnets inclose the coils 52, 52*, respectively, which in turn inclose the cores 57,58, of said magnets. Coils 52, 52, have rigidly connected with them the inner ends of a pair of levers 59, whose outer ends have pivotally connected with them a pair of pen arms 60, in the converging ends of which is mounted receiving pen 61.

As the coils 52, 52 arereciprocated, it will be understood that the levers 59, 60,

y will be correspondingly moved and the receiving pen 61 therefore moved laterally over the surface of the writing platen 62, as in ordinary writing. These movements of the receiving pen must of course correspond in direction and extent to those of the transmitting tracer 1, so as to correctly reproduce the writing performed by the latter. This end is attained by the relay coils 28,

'28, and connections therefrom with battery 51 and springs 50, 50, which will now be described.

i For brevity, these parts of the apparatus will be described with particular reference to the coil 52. The parts for coil 52 are generally the same, and have the same reference numerals applied to them, followed by the. reference letter a. For the purpose of moving the coil 52 alternately in opposite directions, circuits are provided from opposite poles of the battery 51, each including coil 52. The-circuit from the negative pole of said battery consists of wires 65, 66, stationary contact 67, circuit closer 68, wires 69, 7 0, coil 52, and thence by magnet 30, and wire 31, to the neutral of battery circuit from the positive pole of battery 51 consists of wires 71, 72, stationary contact 73, circuit closer 68, wire 69, 70, coil 52, magnet 30, and wire 31, to "the neutral of battery 51. The'winding of coil 52 is such that when-the circuit through it from the negative pole of battery 51 is closed, said coil will be moved in a clockwise direction,

and when the circuit from the positive pole ofbattery 51is closed,said coil will be moved I in a counter-clockwise direction. Coil 52 also -moves in aclockwi-se direction when the negative circuit is closed through it and in a counter-clockwise direction when the posi- 51. The.

tive circuit is closed. From this it results that, as the transmitting tracer is moved in any direction, the receiving pen arms 60, andtherefore the receiving pen itself, will be correspondingly moved; the joint action of the two coils 52, 52, and their levers 59, eXpressing,- at the receiving pen 61, as is well understood, duplications of the movements of the transmitting tracer 1.

Circuit closer '68 is pivoted in a bracket 75, mounted in magnet 29, and at one end is connected with the relay coil 28 so that,

as the latter is moved downwardly by the main line current, said circuit closer will be moved upwardlythereby into engagement with the stationary contact 67, thereby closing the circuit just described from the negative pole of battery 51 through coil 52, which is then moved by the current traversing this circuit in a clockwise direction. At or near its opposite end circuit closer 68 has connected with it one end of the spring 50, whose other end is connected with a lever 76, pivoted at 77 in the frame of magnet 29. Lever 7 6., at a point intermediate the spring 50 and the pivotal point 77, has connected with it one end of a rod 78, whose other end is connected with a crank 79 rigidly secured to and moving with the coil 52. Spring 50 resists downward movement of the coil 28, and therefore upward of circuit closer 68 into engagement with contact 67, by the main line current, and, at the propertime, as hereinafter described, moves said circuit closer 68 (in opposition to the main line current) downwardly into engagement withcontact 73, thereby alternately closing the negative and positive circuits just described from battery 51 through the coil 52, which is moved alternately by the currents traversing these circuits in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. The movements of the right hand coil 52, by these negative and positive currents, are in the same directions as those of the coil 52. In other words, when the circuit closer 68 engages contact 67, the

coil 52 will be moved in a clockwise direct'lon, and when circuit closer 68 engages 67* and 73*, so that both of the local circuits from the battery 51, for each of the coils 52, 52, will be open. Assuming the transmitting tracer 1 to be moved from unison, for example, to the central position on the writing platen 10 in which it is shown,

it will be obvious that roller contacts 5 and 6 will be moved downwardly and upwardly, respectively, toward the smaller ends of their respective rheostat 7, 8, thusdecreasing the resistance in the left and right main line circuits and correspondingly increasing the strength of the currents traversing said circuits. The increases in the two main line currents will move'the relays 28, 28 doWnwardly against the tension of their springs 50, 50*, and move the circuit closers'68, 68 upwardly into engagement with stationary contacts 67, 67*, thereby closing the local circuits from the negative pole of battery 51 through coils 52, 52*, each of which will then be moved in a clockwise direction, the receiving pen 61 assuming the position shown. When'the movement of the transmitting tracer from the position shown is such as to cause the roller contacts 5, 6, to move in opposite directions to those described, as, for example, when the tracer is moved back to unison, the strength of the left and right main line circuits will be decreased and the movements of relays 28, 28 and coils 52,- 52 reversed. If the tracer, however, should be moved, for example, directly downward from the position shown, the left line current will be still further increased and circuit closer 68 will engage contact 67, but the right main line current will be decreased (by movement of roller contact 6 toward the larger end of rheostat 8) and coil 28 will be moved upward by spring 50 and circuit closer 68 moved into engagement with contact 73 thus closing the circuit from the positive pole of battery 51 through coil 52 which will then be moved in a. counter-clockwise direction. If the movement of tracer 1 be upward, the strength of the left main line will be decreased and that of the right main line increased, with the result that circuit closers 68, 68*, will engage contacts 7 8 and 67 respectively, thus closing circuits from the positive and negative poles, respectively, of battery 51, through coils 52, 52*, which will then be moved in counter-clockwise directions, respectively. The result of these and other conjoint movements of the coils 52,

52, is that the receiving pen 61 will re produce, in extent and direction, the lateral movements of the transmitting tracer 1, and therefore reproduce on the platen 62 the writing made by the tracer on platenl0. During these movementsof the relay ,coils 28, 28", the springs 50, 50*, moving at their lower ends with the coils 52, 52, will have their tension or pull upon the circuit closers 68, 68, increased as the strength of the main line currents 1n crease, and decrease as the strength of the main line currents decreases.

The parts are so arranged and proportioned relatively to each other, that when the main line current ceases to increase in strength the tension of the spring 50 or 50 will dominate the' main line current, and thereby move the circuit closer 68 or 68 into engagement with the lower contact 73 or 7 3, thus closing the circuit from the positive pole of battery '51 with the result that the direction of movement of the coil 52 or 52*, as the case' may be, will be reversed so that the movement of the receiving pen 61, will correspond in direction and extent to that of transmitting tracer 1. I In like 'manner, when the main line current begins to increase, the force of the spring 50 or 50 will be overcome by the main line current and the circuit cl ser 68 or 68, as thecase may be, moved ag in into engagement with the upper ontact 67 It will thus be observed that the force of the spring and the strength of the main line current are balanced withrelation to each other, so that asthe current increases the coil 52 or 52 will be moved in one direction and, when the current decreases in strength, will be moved in reverse direction.

to this The apparatus, as described up point, would require very nice adjustments of the moving parts with relation to' each other, and to the main line and local currents, to avoid rough writing. To avoid the necessity for this and securesmooth writing, resistances 80, 80, are interposed between the circuit closer 68 and coil 28, and circuit closer 68" and coil 28*, respectively, the resistance 80 being connected by wires 81, 69, circuit closer 68, and wires 82,27, with relay coil 28, while resistance 80 isconnected by wires 81*, 69 circuit closer68. and wires 82 and 38*, with relay coil 28*. When circuit closer 68 is in engagement with stationary contact 67, coil 28 will be connected, through wires 27 82, resistance 80, wires 81, 69, circuit closer 68, contact 67, and wire 66,

with the negative pole of battery 51 thus then again be gagement with contact 67 thus reestablish-9* ing the resistance circuit, and so on, the airdominating the main line current, will, as

before described, move the circuit closer 68.

into engagement with the stationary contact 73, thus closing the circuit from the positive pole of battery 51 through the coil 52. When the circuit closer 68 thus engages contact 73 relay coil 28 will be connected by Wires 27, 82,'resistance 80, wire 81, circuit closer 68, stationary contact 73, and wire 72, with the positive pole of battery 51. The effect of this is to augment the main line current passing through the coil 28 with the result that the latter will move the circuit closer 68 .away from stationary contact 73, thus opening the resistance circuit just referred to. The spring 50 will thereupon again move the circuit closer 68 into engagement with stationary contact 73 and reestablish the resistance circuit, when the circuit closer 68 will be again moved away from the stationary contact 73, reopening the resistance circuit, and so on. main line current decreases in strength, the circuit closer 28 will thus be maintained in 'the vibratory make-and-break condition with relation to the stationary contact 73.

The vibrations thus set up act as a cushion in the local circuits at the moment of closin the circuits through coils 52, 52 avoidlng the violent action that a sharp make-and-break would produce. They also serve to vibrate the receiving-pen 61 and other moving parts attached to the coil 52, and thus diminish friction and improve the reproduction of the writing performed by the transmittting-tracer.

To prevent violent oscillation of the re: ceiving-pen 61 a dash pot 85, 85 is provided for each side of the receiving-instrument, the piston thereof in each case being connected with the crank 79 or 79, of the coil 52 or 52".

WhatI claim is 1. In a variable-current-strength telautographic system the combination with each main line and a local source of electrical energy for the receiving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof in cluding circuit closing means and-a recipro-' cating pen-controlling current-responsive member, a reciprocating current-responsive member in the main line,a member acting in opposition thereto, and connections between said last two members and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as the strength of the main line current increases and decreases respectively substantially as described.

2. In a variable-current-strength telauto graphic system the combination with each So long as the main line and a local source of electrical en- 2 member in the main line, a spring acting inopposltlon thereto, and connections between said main line member and spring and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as. the strength of the main line current increases and decreases respectively, substantially as described.

3. In a variable-current-strength teleautographic system the combination with each main line and a local source of electrical energy for the receiving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof in cluding circuit closing means and a reciprocating pen-controlling current-responsive member, a reciprocating current-responsive member in the main line, a spring acting in opposition thereto, connections between said main line member and spring and the circuit closing means .foralternately closingsaid pair of circuits as the strength of the main line current increases and decreases respec' tively and connections between said-spring and pen-controlling member for increasing and decreasing the force of the spring as the main line current increases and decreases, respectively, substantially as described.

l. In a variable-current-strength telautographic system the combination with each main line and a local source of electrical energy for the recelving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof including circuit closing means and a rocking pen-controlling current-responsive member, a rectlllnearly movable currentresponsive member in the main line, a memcreases respectively, substantially as de.- scribed;

' 5. In a variable-current-strength telauto graphic system the combination-with each main line and.- a llocal sourceiof electrical energyfor the receiving instrument, oil a ,pairof circuits-from opposite poles thereof including circuit closing means and a rocking pencontrolling current-responsive member, a rectilinearly movable current-responsive member in the main line, a spring acting in opposition thereto, and connections/between said main line member and spring and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as thestrength of the main line current increases and described.

6. In a varlable-current-strength telauto-' creases respectively, substantially as deiao graphic system the combination with each main line and a local source of electrical energy for the receiving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof including circuit closing means and a rocking pen-controlling current-responsive memher, a rectilinearly movable current-responsive member in the main line, a spring acting in opposition thereto, connections between' said main line member and spring and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as the strength of the main line current increases and decreases respectively, and connections between said spring and pen-controlling member for increasing and decreasing the force of the spring as the main line current increases and decreases, respectively, substantially as described.

- 7. In a variable-current-strength telautographic system the combination with each main line, a source of electrical energy therefor, and a local source of electrical energy for the receiving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof including circuit closing means and a reciprocating pen-controlling current-responsive member, a reciprocating current-responsive member in the main line, a member acting in opposition thereto, connections between said last two members and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as the strength of the main line 'pole of current increases and decreases respectively, and circuit connections, including a resistance, between sald local source of energy,

main line member and circuit closing means,

intermittently connecting said member, as the main line current increases, with the said local source of electrical energy which is opposite to that of the main line source of energy, and, as said current decreases, with the-pole thereof, which is the same as that of the main line source of energy, substantially as described.

8. In a variable-current-strength telautographic system the combination with each main line, a source of electrical energy source of electrical energy for the receiving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof including circuit closing means and a reciprocating pen controlling current responsive member, a reciprocating current-responsive member in the main line, a spring acting in opposition thereto, connections between said main line member and spring and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as the strength of the main line current increases and decreases respectively, and connections, including a resistance, between said local source of energy, main line member and circuit closing means, intermittently connecting said member, as the main line current increases, with the pole "of said local source of electrical energy, which is opposite to that source of energy, and, as said current decreases, with the pole thereof, which is the same as that of the main line source of energy, substantially as described.

9. In a. variable-current-strength telautographic system the combination with each main line, a source of electrical energy therefor, and a local source of electrical en ergy for the receiving instrument, of a pair of circuits from opposite poles thereof including circuit closing means and a reciprocating pen-controlling current-responsive member, a reciprocating current-responsive member in the main line, a spring acting in opposition thereto, connections between said main line member and spring and the circuit closing means for alternately closing said pair of circuits as the strength of the main line current increases and decreases respectively, connections betweensaid spring and pen-controlling member for increasing and decreasing the force of the spring as the main line current increases and decreases, respectively, and circuit connections, including a resistance, between said local source of energy, main line member and circuit closing means, intermittently connecting said member, as the main line current increases, with the pole of said local source of electrical energy, which is opposite to that of the main line source of energy, and, as said current of the mainline decreases, with the pole thereof, which is the same as that of the main line source of energy, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

/ GEORGE S. TIFFANY. 

